


Dustborne

by Sundown_Monsoon



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game), RWBY
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:40:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5315423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sundown_Monsoon/pseuds/Sundown_Monsoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city of beacon burns. Men and women awaken as beasts.</p><p>'For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dustborne

**Author's Note:**

> Have you ever noticed the similarities between RWBY and Bloodborne? Hunters and huntresses that hunt beasts, the circulation and dependence on a strange substance, weapons that change to match the situation, and a really, really strange moon? 
> 
> Characters will most likely die, so be prepared.

The noise her scythe made when it slid between vertebrae always made her wince. Putting her boot on the Grimm’s back, she yanked the blade free, breathing heavily, causing black blood to suddenly spray across the cobblestone from severed blood vessels.

She dragged the scythe along the ground as she stepped back from the corpse, leaving a faint trail of blood on the ground. She looked down at the skeleton of a city long dead from her vantage point on one of the many small bridges that connected the tall buildings and homes together. This high, the wind blew hard, and her cape billowed out like a flag.

The city she'd grown up in was once a thing of beauty – ornate, masterfully constructed buildings headed the skyline around her, rising up from the ground like valiant stone knights. The architectural style had a tendency for building tall rows of windows atop these massive, towering buildings, which gave the appearance of visors through helmets.

Yet now these once gallant knights had been battered and broken, and black dragons rose from their corpses, billowing plumes of smoke from multitudes of fires all around the city, that aimed to block out the struggling late-evening light. The sight was a pain to her eyes, and the ash was an agitation to the rest of her senses.

Standing up straight, she pulled her cape and clothes tighter to herself – she wore thick bundles of traveller's gear, stuff that made sure the black blood never seeped through to her skin. 

A familiar voice caught her attention, almost making her jump. She looked around until she saw her sister, Yang, emerging from an open window set in a nearby rooftop - her brilliant blonde hair was instantly recognisable.

“Keep yourself low, Ruby! Otherwise you're going to get swept away by the wind. Again.” Dull, torn church robes wound up tightly along her body, fastened by cords. A rebellious tail of fabric fluttered out around her hips. 

“Sorry, Yang.” Ruby apologized, lowering herself to a crouch. “I was just caught off-guard by a Grimm, is all. Did you find any Dust?”

“Yeah.” She replied, without a hint of pleasure on her face. “Along with a few bodies in the next building over. Looks like the Grimm got here way earlier than we thought.” She dropped down to Ruby's level, and handed her a small glittering crystal, a deep blue to match the darkening sky above them. “Here you go. Keep it safe.”

“I know.” Ruby said, her voice dropping into a mumble.

Yang's gaze softened, joined by a hand that reached up to cup Ruby's cheek, pulling the girl's dirtied face up to meet her. “Is something wrong? How are you holding up?”

“A lot of things are wrong.” Ruby's eyes veered off to the side, unable to hold Yang’s gaze. “But I guess I'm not about to fall apart right now.”

“C'mere.” Yang pulled her younger sister in, and wrapped her arms around her shoulders in a warm, comforting embrace. The only sounds to be heard as they leaned against each other was the wind, and the distant cracking of wooden frames that collapsed as they burnt, and the echoing, ravenous howling of the Grimm that infested the city.

“Look.” Yang began, her hand lifting up to ruffle Ruby's hair. “I know I went away for a while. But that won't happen again. Specially now it's just me and you. I won't leave you alone. Not for good. The other kingdoms are safe, we'll go to one of those, okay?”

“No, no.” Ruby shook her head, her eyes returning to face Yang with abrupt defiance. “We can't just leave to somewhere safer. We've got to help Beacon! We've got to help everyone we know here!”

“What? How? How are we going to kill all the Grimm that have just...shown up? What if one of us turn into them too?” Yang laid her hands on Ruby's shoulder, her sister's defiance met with grim determination. “What if I turned into one of them? Would you save them from me?”

“I-I d-don't -”

“Of course you don't know. Neither of us know. But the Grimm are here, that means a new hunt will start.” Yang's voice has grown panicked, almost, her speech quickening.. “We can't stay here. We need to leave. Understand?”

She would have carried on, but a stone-splitting shriek tore through the air. Clapping her hands to her ears, Ruby doubled over, the pitch so high it threatened to knock her down. Before it could, a sudden tremor in the ground rocked them both off their feet.

With another scream, A huge shaggy figure leapt from behind one of the nearby rooftops and landed atop the end of the short stone bridge they crouched upon – a hulking Grimm,at least three times as tall as either of them. Vaguely human-like bipedal, yet disproportioned in monstrous ways, it stood on its hind legs but used its lengthy arms to supports its considerable upper body weight as it stalked towards them. Ruby paled as she stared at its head, which looked more like a white skull, with a crown of sharp, pointed antlers, was coated in thick, congealed red blood.

Yang immediately grabbed hold of Ruby and yanked her away from the approaching horror, yet the Grimm bounded towards them, much faster than either of them could possibly run.

“No! Get back!” Yang yelled. She tried to tug Ruby back again, who was still stumbling about from the first shove and the tremors caused by the Grimm's heavy movements, but was barely able to make any progress compared to the lumbering, yet startlingly swift motions of the towering beast.  
It sped at them and it reached out with a massive claw, blurring past Yang to snatch at Ruby. The whole series of events passed by in a flash, and Ruby's mind was inundated with blind, uncomprehending terror. The Grimm lifted her faster than she could react to, casting her off the bridge in a fit of rage. The wind roared past her as she fell down and down, and yet, as soon as she hit the ground that raced up towards her, she felt nothing, and the world went black.

\---

It was like a sudden sleep – she didn't feel herself lapsing into it, but there was that vague subconscious knowledge that she wasn't in the waking world. 

Of course, there was the fact that she did eventually wake up from that sudden slumber. Her eyes opened, and she found that she wasn't a broken mess upon the cobblestones of Beacon, but instead, she was in front of a small steepled building, sat amidst a grove of trees that continued in all directions, until it grew so thick she couldn't see beyond.

“Welcome, good huntress.” 

A soft voice greeted her, and she turned to see a young woman dressed in a fine gown and shawl that was a mix of faded grey and green colours. She held a head of brilliant ginger hair tied in a loose bun beneath her bonnet. 

Bright, almost luminous green eyes stared at Ruby, unblinking. “I am here to guide you.” 

Despite what had just happened to Ruby – well, she wasn't sure if that was real, or if this was real – she found this stranger's voice soothing, as if it were all just a bad dream. “Who...who are you?” Ruby asked, realizing that she was sitting on the floor. “Where am I?”

“My name is Penny. You are in the dream.” She replied. Her figure was almost...stiff, as if she wasn't human. “You have awoken here to hunt the Grimm.”

 

\---

Yang wasn't even offered the very small mercy of being able to watch her sister go – as soon as Ruby was thrown away, the grimm slammed its fist down in Yang's direction, and she darted backwards just in time to avoid it. She was tempted to just let it crush her, the thought crossed her mind for just a moment after what had happened to Ruby. However, her survival instinct kicked in, her body moved in the opposite direction as fast as it could manage into the rooftop opening on the other end of the bridge that would bring her to safety. 

With another scream, the towering Grimm chased after her in leaps and bounds. The trembling of the ground beneath her from the sheer weight of its footsteps was almost enough to knock her off her feet – she closed in on the window, and she dived for it as the Grimm swiped at her, missing its claw by just a few inches as she landed inside the attic in a roll. 

Still not free from its pursuit, it gripped at the window frame and thrust its other arm inside, screaming again as it tried to snatch her up.

Panting and heaving, Yang darted down a set of stairs that led to the attic. After a brief, timid backwards glance up the stairway, she fell to her knees, panting heavily. She wanted to break down into tears, but the creaking of thick, aged wooden frames and the growling and panting of the cursed Grimm that loomed outside the building kept her on her feet. She backed away from the stairs, eyes raised upwards as the creaking grew more insistent, causing her to worry over whether the roof was going to collapse or not.

With an explosion of shattered wood and tiles, the attic was demolished as two massive fists smashed through them. With a scream, Yang fell over herself as she tried to turn around and run for herself at the same time. She did her best to pull herself up as the Grimm began to tear through the floor above her, and ran for the nearest door as the next storey steadily collapsed above her.

She ran through the door into a hallway and dashed down it, as that same doorway was demolished moments after she made it through. The Grimm could barely fit through the building, and so it tore through support beams, flooring and walls all in its relentless pursuit of her. Yang fell her way down multiple sets of stairs as the building was dismantled from the roof downwards, but eventually the Grimm found itself halted by stone walls as they both neared the foundations of the building, where stonework replaced wood and plaster.

Yang was given a few moments of respite to look around as the Grimm tried to push against thick grey bricks and fit through the doorway, and she found a rifle discarded upon the ground, coated in blood.

“Thank the gods.” She sighed, investigating it as soon as it was in her hands, and she found a few bullets leftover, along with plenty of gunpowder. Shaking as the Grimm screamed at her through the opening in the stone wall, she held up the rifle, while the stonework steadily came apart against its relentless heaving and struggling. Waiting no longer, she loaded the weapon and fired it, with a deafening bang, followed by a crack as it ricocheted off the Grimm’s bloody skull and into the ceiling. 

Before she could even try again, the Grimm heaved and pushed its way through the wall, tearing it apart as it lurched forward. Yang backed up and her eyes darted upon as a long, deep groaning that sounded from above heralded an avalanche of architecture. She spun around, desperate for a means of escape, only to realize she was one storey away from the ground level. 

As the many ruined floors above finally gave in, Yang hurled herself through the nearest window as the rest of the building above fell through and buried the Grimm in a mountain of wood and stone.


End file.
